


Life after Death

by Blaubeere



Category: Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Ghosts, M/M, Mutual Pining, Unconventional Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-11
Updated: 2015-12-11
Packaged: 2018-05-06 05:34:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5404922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blaubeere/pseuds/Blaubeere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry wasn't exactly sure what he'd expected, but it sure as hell wasn't this. In fact, he couldn't remember when was the last time he had felt this perplexed. He stood before the South Glade Mission Church's front doors and next to him in the ground lay his body, blood slowly painting the asphalt in vibrant red.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Life after Death

**Author's Note:**

> My little fic for Kingsman big bang - I've wanted to write story about ghost!Harry for a while, and well...in case Harry really died (which he did not btw) then this would be the preferable outcome if you ask me. Hope you enjoy it^^  
> And thanks for **museling** , my beta!

[ art by port wind sea](http://theoctopiqueen.tumblr.com/post/135013076758/i-painted-this-for-the-fic-life-after-death-by?soc_src=mail&soc_trk=ma)

**Chapter 1**

Harry wasn't exactly sure what he'd expected, but it sure as hell wasn't this. In fact, he couldn't remember, when was the last time he had felt this perplexed. He stood before the South Glade Mission Church's front doors and next to him in the ground lay his body, blood slowly painting the asphalt in vibrant red.

He didn't know what else to do than sat by his body and wait. For what exactly he was waiting for, he wasn't quite sure. It was a curious thing to be without a vessel made of flesh and blood. In a way he did feel the heat of the asphalt under him and the light breeze ruffling his hair. But at the same time he somehow knew, that if he allowed himself to follow the pull of gravitation, he would fall right through the asphalt. It was more than a little unsettling to think about how deep he would actually go. Or if he wanted, could he drift off the atmosphere as well. He could sense which way was up and down but if he so chose, he could ignore the laws of physical world.

After a while, Harry decided that he didn't really want to think about these things. He was sure that had he still his body, he would have a splitting headache. In Harry's line of work, most people had given at least some thought of what came after death. He himself hadn't been religious at all despite his upbringing, so it wasn't like he had expected to see the shining gates of Heaven (and really, he was pretty sure he would go down and not up at any rate). But he'd always thought that he'd cross that bridge when he came to it and not worry too much. Besides, it wasn't like it would do any good to ponder about the mystery of the final sleep, they all would have to wait and see what would come themselves. If he'd ever imagined what it would be like, quiet, calm emptiness or rebirth to a new life would have been his personal preferences.

So to say that he hadn't expected this would be an understatement. Truth to be told, if this was it, he truly was fucked. An existence without any purpose or destination seemed more like a plot full of holes in bad horror movie where people wanted an eternal life just to realise afterwards that it wasn't a gift but a curse. And Harry wanted nothing to do with it.

After he'd sat there for some time, he started to get restless. Someone should have come already, there was no way someone hadn't heard all the screams and gunshots from the church. Unless Valentine owned the whole neighbourhood. Or in case they had all been in that church which - now that Harry thought about it - sounded actually pretty plausible. But that still didn't explain why Merlin hadn't sent someone to pick his body and sort this mess before the general public found out about the massacre. Harry wasn't really familiar with Kingsman's American branch but he doubted that they would be this incompetent. What on Earth was Merlin doing?

Harry felt sudden burst of fury. Valentine had made Merlin watch his death after he'd killed God knows how many innocent people. Well... perhaps not exactly innocent, but they still hadn't deserved it. And Eggsy... oh his young bright Eggsy who was waiting in his house for Harry to come home and to sort things out. Merlin would have to be the one to tell the boy what had happened. And Harry could all too clearly imagine the unnecessary guilt and regret Eggsy would probably feel. It was almost an unsaid rule of Kingsman agents to never leave to a mission while being in bad terms with anyone. In their kind of work you never truly knew what would be your last words. So naturally Harry had made just that and in doing so he'd doomed a brilliant young man to suffer from his mistakes and harsh words.

He'd just wanted so badly to win, to show Arthur that he'd been right all along and Kingsman needed to change in order to adapt to the rapidly changing world. And he'd been looking forward to spend more time with the young man, maybe explore that delicious tension that had always been present when they were alone. He'd told himself to wait. Wait until Eggsy had become officially part of Kingsman so they'd be equals and not a mentor and a student. He'd had so many things he would have liked to show Eggsy and he'd badly wanted to see him gradually release his full potential. Perhaps they'd have gone to some of the missions together even.

Harry closed his eyes and breathed deeply. He could feel his fists tremble from all consuming anger. Anger because Valentine had taken it all away. First the man had taken his control and forced him to become literally killing machine. And then he'd taken Harry's life.

Harry practically jumped to his feet, he could no longer bear to be idle. Valentine would have to pay for what he'd done. Harry wasn't sure how or even if he was capable doing anything to the man in his current state but he wouldn't forgive this. Without thinking he jogged to his unremarkable car - and found himself standing in the middle of it. 

"Shit."

Now this could turn out to be a real problem.

He could feel a whisper of metal in places where he was quite literally inside his car. Cursing again he withdraw and tried to touch the smooth surface with his hand. It slipped right through the door and again he felt the odd sensation of metal inside his incorporeal hand. 

He tried three more times  without much success.  He frowned and stared at his own hands. It didn't make any sense. He didn't slip through the asphalt so there had to be a way to make his from more... solid, for the lack of a better word. Determined to do it, he tried different techniques, changed the way he thought and even tried with his foot couple of times in hope that as it didn't go through the ground it would help him to understand how not to go through everything else. 

He concentrated on remembering the feeling of having a real body and what it was like to touch something solid. Finally he could feel the cool metal under his hand and not _inside_ it. He almost groaned from relief and never had opening a car door made him feel so pleased with himself. 

He managed to open the door and get inside. But before he could even think about starting the car, he suddenly found himself sitting on the asphalt buried to the neck in his car seat.

"I don't know what I expected," he muttered while scrambling back to his feet.

It took Harry six more attempt before he was safely seated and driving away from South Glade Mission Church's parking lot to the nearest airport. He wasn't entirely certain if people could in fact see him but at this point he was far too frustrated to care about it.  Now he just had to find Valentine and make sure that nobody else would die. He could sort everything else later.

***

It didn't take long before everything went to shit. Harry had been driving closer to two hours and was in the middle of evening rush - he'd figured people could see him as nobody had yet shrieked about a car moving without a driver - when suddenly vehicles started crashing and people began to pretty much rip each others apart. Harry was so surprised and horrified of how quickly Valentine worked that when a big green van hit his little car, his concentration broke and he flew right through the front window and out of his car only to find himself in the middle of the bright red Toyota that had been driving in front of him.

Everywhere he looked men and women were trying their very best to murder whoever was closest to them. The air was filled with screams caused by both blind rage and pain.  Harry didn't know what he was supposed to do, but he was immensely glad that this time Valentines sim cards didn't held any power over him.

Just as suddenly it had started, everything went quiet. People froze trying to make sense of what had happened. For a long moment Harry couldn't hear a sound. Everybody just stared at each others in confusion and fear.

Then a heartbreaking cry pierced the heavy silence and everyone turned towards source of the sound. Harry stepped out of the car so that he could see what had caused the noise. And then he wished he hadn't because there was a man crouching besides what undoubtedly was his car and he was cradling broken little figure in his arms. His blood covered hands were shaking and he was repeating something feverishly. 

Harry closed his eyes for a moment. He could almost feel how his mind tried to block the picture of dead child. In his fifty-two years he'd seen his own fair share of death and bloodshed - he'd caused half of them himself. But this was different. This was inhuman.

And if Valentine had this time activated all the millions of sim cards at once, who knew how much damage he'd caused around the world. Harry tried to stop himself from estimating the damage only couple of minutes of blind rage had probably done. All the hospitals, schools and other places where people were suppose to feel safe and be looked after. He didn't want to know how Valentine's plan would affect them. He took a deep calming breath and opened his eyes again.

Just to see how it all started again.

"Shit!" 

People went right through him as they chased each others, nobody seemed to notice him standing there. Feelings utterly powerless he  decided to get out of the drive way. Even if people didn't know they were inside a... well... a ghost, Harry certainly felt it himself. It didn't hurt and neither was it precisely uncomfortable, but he didn't like it at all. Every time someone went through him, a sudden surge of anger washed over him reminding Harry far too much of how Valentine's sim cards had made him feel for his liking.

When he'd almost got away of the road, he noticed a plump girl in her twenties running from nearby house chasing after little boy a baseball bat in hand.

Harry reacted without thinking and surged through the remaining car between him and the pavement snatching the child into his arms and away from the shouting girl who looked completely consumed by her rage. She tried to hit them with the bat, but Harry didn't wait to disarm her, he just dodged and ran up to the same house he'd seen them coming from.

 

**Chapter 2**

"Mum, can you get the last bag?" Eggsy yelled. He had armful of Daisy and two large bags bumping constantly at his legs when he used his back to push the door open. 

Daisy's new room was filled with light and dust, it was clear that Harry's guestroom hadn't been used often. He himself was probably the last one who had slept there, and that had been three weeks ago. Someone had obviously cleaned the mess he had made , but after that it seemed that nobody had touched the house. Just as Eggsy had requested.

Pushing still raw and painful thoughts away he carefully placed Daisy in the middle of the bed and groaned in relief when he finally got to dumb the large bags to the floor. He really didn't understand how baby stuff could be so fucking heavy. Well actually Daisy wasn't a baby anymore, but Eggsy would fight anyone who said that to him. He was quite sure he would call his Daiz a baby even when she was in her fifties.

"Well, here we are. Do you like our new home, sunshine?"

Daisy squirmed and rolled around so she could take a better look at her new environment. Eggsy kissed his sister's sweet little wisp of hair and began to unpack the bags. He tried to keep the smile on his face and sorrow locked away but he knew he wasn't very good at it. Perhaps Roxy had been right to doubt his decision to move in Galahad's place so early. But he had feared that if he didn't do it now, he would never have the courage to set his foot over that doorstep ever again.

"I think we should have cleaned a bit before we dragged all our stuff here," Michelle said as she brought the last bag full of Daisy's stuff in to the room. "And why didn't you mention this is practically a manor? How can we live here?"

"Relax, mum, as I've said hundred times already, my new job comes with a lots of benefits. This house is ours now," Eggsy assured his mother as he folded Daisy's shirts and pants into a neat pile to the bed. Daisy herself had managed to sit up - though a little wobbly - and seemed just to wait the moment he or Michelle weren't looking to start exploring her new room. And quite possibly to fall from the bed - his sister seemed to enjoy far too much of making his life unnecessarily difficult.

"I just don't understand. How did you even meet this guy who gave you this job?" Michelle asked. Again.

Eggsy barely restrained from rolling his eyes. "Mum, I've told you this already, remember? I just bumped into dad's old friend and he was looking for someone to help him running his shop. You wouldn't probably know him as he met dad in Afghanistan, but he recognised  me when Ryan called my name - and you've always said how much I look like dad."

"Yes, but-"

"Mum, leave it. Everything will be okay, especially now that Dean's gone for good," Eggsy couldn't help himself from adding the last bit, but regretted immediately after seeing the pained expression that flashed in her mother's face before she could hide it. "Sorry."

"It's okay, luv." Michelle smiled at him genuinely but left the room soon after that.

"Oh, Daisy, your brother has way too big mouth for his own good," Eggsy huffed. He knew that Dean was a sore spot for his mum, why exactly he wasn't sure, but he really should learn not to bring that man up. He knew that Michelle had cared for Dean, even loved him when Eggsy had been younger, and his mum had needed the support Dean gave her. She had kept him mostly out of Deans way and taken care of Eggsy the best she knew. He remembered how broken his mum had been couple of years after his dad's death and that was the only reason that sometimes had kept him from beating the shit out of Dean for real. Because in spite of all the nasty things that Dean had brought to their lives he had made Michelle happy at least for a while. He'd helped her to let go of Lee and he'd given Eggsy the greatest treasure on Earth - his little sister. So even if Eggsy had had to endure Dean's mocking, hide the bruises he'd inflicted while drunk and watch out when he'd been alone with the man, he wouldn't have done anything differently.

"Eggyyy!" Daisy gurgled and smiled brightly at him. She'd grown so big and so fast that Eggsy couldn't almost believe his own eyes. He hugged the girl and placed butterfly light kisses all over her tiny face while she giggled and kissed him messily back. He was fairly sure his whole face was covered on baby saliva, but he couldn't care less. 

"Come on, let's go find J.B.," Eggsy suggested and put Daisy down. He grabbed her hand and together they left the room. Daisy's walking was still a little wobbly and very slow, but Eggsy enjoyed watching his sister more than anything. She was the only thing that could make him forget everything that had happened on V-Day and make him so happy that he could almost explode from the mere feeling alone. "You are the best, Daiz."

Suddenly they heard Michelle's shriek from the downstairs.

Eggsy went instantly cold all over and his muscles tensed ready to take action at a moment's notice. "Mum?"

They heard couple of heavy thuds and then their mother yelled: "Why is there a dead dog in the bathroom?!"

"Fuck."

* * *

Merlin had his hands full of work. Almost a quarter of Kingsman's staff and agents had been killed in V-Day, and good many of the rest had been injured. The only bright side was that besides Arthur, nobody else had been corrupted. But still, over a month after the V-Day, they had more work than ever before  since the World wars and furthermore, they were short on staff.

Merlin slept at the Head Quarters most often than not as did almost everyone else Governments were falling around the world, people protested and only last week there had been three successful and one failed revolutions. Ten percent from the world's population was dead, of which a good portion were children, older people and others who had been at some degree weaker or not so able to protect themselves. And the body count was still rising as hospitals could not help all and people started fighting with each others engulfed by their paranoia.

Also the number of suicides had multiplied as many parent had been unable to face the fact that they had killed their own children or spouses in their blind rage. All the airplanes had crashed and there had been countless accidents with big cruiser ships among the other things.

World leaders that were still alive tried to do their best, but nobody really knew what they should do in a situation like this. There were no previous cases of a crises this scale. And after seeing so many of their leaders agree to Valentine’s plan, people's mistrust was very easy to comprehend and certainly justified. 

Kingsman had ended up preventing four separate assassinations of Queen Elisabeth alone not to mention numerous other royals and politicians who were in danger. It was actually quite ironic that people would try to murder the leaders who had actually refused to  go along with V-Day plan and had been imprisoned by Valentine for it.

Merlin frowned and massaged gently his aching head trying to relax and get his wondering thoughts at bay so that he could concentrate on his next task. Tristan would have to hurry up with her mission because she would be needed soon and Merlin dearly wished Eggsy - well, newly appointed Galahad - wouldn't blow anything up this time. His handler, Freya, had extremely high pitched voice that kept ringing in Merlin's ears hours after the woman herself was gone. After being assigned to Galahad, Merlin hadn't had a day without hearing some complaint about Eggsy. Or if he'd had, it was only because Eggsy hadn't been on a mission that day.

And speaking of the your man, Merlin remembered he should ask if Eggsy and his family had settled down in Galahad's house. Actually, he should have probably asked that before sending the boy on new mission, only there was simply far too much to be done for Merlin to remember everything. He knew Eggsy hadn't had proper time to grieve much like he himself and now that he thought about it, perhaps it had been too soon to suggest that Galahad should live in Galahad's house.

Merlin groaned. "I've been a right prick haven't I..."

"I'm glad that you finally admitted it."

Merlin's head whipped around hand going automatically to his hidden gun. But the room was completely empty no matter how hard he tried to stare. Skin prickling he scanned the room heart pounding like it never had in any situation before.

"Ah, bugger, sorry," came the voice again somewhere in the middle of the room. Voice, that was undeniably Harry Hart's voice. And before Merlin could decide whether to shoot just blindly everywhere or register himself into a Psychiatric Hospital, a man who looked remarkable like late Galahad - if you ignored the odd shade of blue in his form and partial transparency - faded into a view. 

Merlin's finger went numb but he didn't drop his gun, just clicked the safety off. He kept it pointed straight at the man's chest. Or to a hologram of a man who looked far too much like Harry. Or to something else entirely that Merlin's brain couldn't accept.

"Please, but the gun down. There isn't any need for it," the man said steadily.

"What the bloody hell is going on here?!" Merlin barked between his gritted teeth.

"Well... I can honestly confirm now that there actually is life after death. Given that you can call this living."

"I will shoot you if you don't explain right now." Merlin was quite proud of how even his voice sounded despite the storm that had taken up a residence in his mind.

"I'm a ghost, Merlin. I died in Kentucky thirty-two days ago. So you couldn't kill me even i you tried, thought it would hurt like shit going through me, So I'd be most grateful if you didn't do it."

Merlin actually felt even more compelled to do just that after hearing that last bit.

"You do realise there is over hundred more plausible explanations to this, right?"

Harry shrugged carelessly running his fingers through his hair. Merlin noticed that he was wearing the exact same suit as the day he...died? And speaking of which...

"You don't have any mark of that bullet."

Harry nodded. "I noticed that too. One of the other ghosts I met told me she had been literally blown to pieces but still her ghost form looked normal."

"I examined your body myself, Harry. It took me three days to get it here, but I know every fecking wound you had."

Merlin could see the raw pain that crept into Harry's eyes before the man lowered his head. 

"In a way I'm glad it was you even if it pains me that you had to go through with that."

"My god, this whole conversation is far too bizarre to be real," Merlin huffed shaking his head. He still hadn't lowered his gun but now that the first shock was over he began to think more rationally. "If it really is you, then tell me something only we two would know. If I'm to believe my friend has appeared over a month after his death as a ghost, I'd like to get some proof first."

Harry cocked his head and seemed to think a moment. "The first year we met, I found you in a bathroom in the middle of the night  applying a mixture of raw egg and honey in your hair. It was already thinning back then and you were obsessed with it. Always combing and staring at mirrors for hours to make sure it wouldn't just magically fall of."

Merlin scowled. "I wasn't obses-"

The door opened abruptly and Roxy strode in with her usual determination. "Merlin, you send for-" 

"It's good to see you, Lancelot", Harry greeted her good naturally. "Please, there is no need for guns, I-Shit!"

Roxy hadn't bothered to waste time for listening, instead she had pulled her gun and shot Harry in both legs. All the colour escaped her face as she saw that despite her perfect aiming there was two bullet holes in the wall behind Harry and not a drop of blood to be seen.

"Lancelot!" Merlin shouted - well he tried to shout but was so astonished that it came out more like a very manly gasp. He lowered finally his own gun and showed his personal feels aside. "Please refrain of shooting anybody without an order, ma'm. I know this is very confusing situation and I'd like to understand it just as badly as you, but violence should always be the last solution."

"Yes, Merlin." Roxy's face was like stone. She lowered her gun but kept track of Harry's every move.

"Bloody hell, I'd forgotten how much that actually hurts!" Harry exclaimed straightening up from where he hand crouched over his legs. "Could we please put the guns away now. You have both seen they don't do much. I assure you  will be much better without the imminent threat of pain."

Roxy looked at the two men and said: "I'm not sure if Eggsy's going to kill you or fuck you. Probably both."

***

"I told you to take the next turn right, not left!" Freya almost shouted in frustration. Eggsy could perfectly well picture her wrinkled face slowly but surely turn to a rather unflattering shade of red. He didn't understand _why_ he couldn't switch handlers with somebody as it was clear as a day how much he and Freya both resented working together.

"Galahad, you are going in wrong direction."

Eggsy glanced around to make sure no-one was nearby then muttered from the corner of his mouth: "No I'm not, I checked the blueprints just as you did. Now for fucks sake leave me be so that I can get my job done."

"But there is nothing but staff door ahead of you!"

Eggsy sighed rather dramatically. "I know. That's why I'm going there."

Tuning out rest of Freya's complaints he straightened up, checked for the last time that he looked his part and then strode purposefully to the side door of the Corinthia Hotel. Being one of London's fanciest hotel, you'd have thought the outside of the building would be kept in better condition. Sure the front door was scrubbed so clean and shining that Eggsy would have feared for slipping but here in the other side the wall wasn't truly white anymore. There was even some half faded graffiti near the little unremarkable door.

"Galahad, what are you doing?"

Eggsy sighed starting to get really annoyed at Freya for questioning his decisions in every turn. "My point is to get inside Mr. What's-his-name rooms and out before he or his friends come back, so that's exactly what I'm doing. If I go from the front door the reception will surely remember me. Could you look who's in the room 507 or 509?"

"If - or should I say when - this plan of your's will backfire, you are the one that can explain to Merlin the exact reason for it," Freya's voice was cold and lazed with hateful resentment. "507 is empty tonight but 509 is occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Whitecap. Fairly young couple, American, and escaping the scandal of their lover's exposition. Seems like she got pregnant and told about it to everyone in Whitecaps social circle. Officially they are in their second honeymoon here."

"Thanks, luv." Eggsy smirked at Freya's disgruntled huff as he quickly worked the door open with his new key card. Quite useful that one, opened almost every door in the hotel, or so he'd been told, and after working a while with Kingsman tech he had learned not to question the soundness of the information or the props he got. He was positive he'd somehow offended half of the tech department when he'd couple of weeks ago doubted the usefulness of their new poison which was meant to be used in extreme honeypot missions. To say that Eggsy had been a little concerned about coating his cock in poison in hopes that his target would suck him off would be a grave understatement. Seriously, where the hell did these people get their ideas? And hadn't they heard about protection?

And why the hell servants quarter looked like this?! Eggsy wanted nothing more than to turn around and check if he'd really entered the right way, because everything looked shining and expensive. There wasn't any dust to be seen, all surfaces were so clear he was rather sure he could pluck his eyebrows using the floor as a mirror if he so wanted. 

"Okay, please tell me what's the quickest way so I can get the fuck out of here, I feel like soon somebody is going to tell me that because I once wore the same boxers twice I should be in jail," he murmured as he started to walk to the nearest stairs. If he remembered correctly, they would lead him right up to the upper floors. If he was lucky, no-one would even see him before he was gone and Freya had hacked the hotels surveillance cameras.

"I'm seriously demanding reassignment after this. Take the stairs until you reach third floor and then turn to left. And when I say left, I mean it this time, Galahad!"

**Chapter 3**

Eggsy was high from adrenaline and successful mission. Even Freya's never ending criticism couldn't dampen his brilliant mood. He'd refused the Kingsman cab that had been waiting outside the hotel feeling too restless just to sit down and wait. Merlin had assured him it was very rare to the mission be so close to home, so Eggsy was going to enjoy the opportunity and jogg to the shop while he could. Hopefully the exercise would calm him somewhat down.

When he was couple of blocks away from his destination, it began to rain heavily. He speed up his steps and ran on full speed the rest of the way huge stupid grin plastered all over his face. For the first time since the V-Day he felt carefree and , as foolish as it sounded, simply happy. He couldn't wait to tell Merlin and Roxy all about it and see their faces - even all the paperwork Freya tried to scare him with felt like child's play.

"Good day, Arnold," he called out cheerily as he entered waving to the old man who mostly was tasked to manage the tailor's shop. And who was in charge of the first line of defense, should the need arise. Most of the time agent's were the only ones to use the shop as a cover for going to the HQ as most of the other Kingsman's staff used one of the three other entrances that were all somewhere near London. 

"Ah, seems like it is indeed a very good day, sir," the man nodded smiling at the young agent who despite being soaking wet was grinning like he was having the time of his life.

Eggsy groaned in mock frustration. "I really wish you wouldn't call me a 'sir'. Makes me feel twice of me age."

"And how would that look to others, Galahad?" Freya commented. "Now, stop stalling and get your arse here so you can leave your report and I can fill that reassignment form."

"Duty calls," Eggsy moaned and waved Arnold his goodbyes. He closed fitting room one's door and touched the mirror activating the lift. "See, I'm already halfway there. No need to nag about it." He rolled his eyes even though he knew Freya couldn't see it. Unless of course she was staring at him from some hidden camera, which wouldn't surprise him much. The woman was pure evil.

"Understood, sir," she complied unimpressed. After a small pause she added in far more professional voice: "Merlin wants to talk to you immediately, he's waiting in his office."

"Why? I thought I was supposed to leave my report to one of Morgana's minions."

"He didn't give a reason. But I'm positive he already knows all the unnecessary damage you inflicted in that hotel."

Freya's smug, self-satisfied voice made Eggsy groan as he flopped down to one of the bullet trains seats. Well, even if the paperwork nor the rain hadn't managed to darken his mood, now he could practically feel his it turn to sour. He'd honestly thought he'd done perfect job. Yes, maybe he shouldn't have set a fire in one of the rooms, but it had been the best way to keep people busy in other side of the building while he'd retrieved the information they needed. He hadn't faced any difficulties and really, the fire had hardly done  much damage. What more could they want from him? Fuck them all!

He'd worked himself in quite a state of enrage as he marched to the door of Merlin's office and opened it without bothering to knock first.The view that greeted his arrival wasn't at all what he'd expected. Or even could have pictured in his wildest dreams.

He stood on the doorway body completely frozen and didn't know how he was supposed to react.

Harry Hart looked just like he had the day he'd died. The day Eggsy had watched him die. There was an odd blueish tint to his colouring, but otherwise Eggsy's frantically roaming eyes couldn't find anything wrong with him.

"Of course ye couldn't wait a wee bit and knock like a proper person," Merlin cursed somewhere behind Harry.

Eggsy opened his mouth just to close it again. Apparently he had completely lost his ability to form any kind of words.

"Eggsy," Roxy spoke quietly and rose from his seat. He hadn't fully registered her presence before he felt her hand squeezing his arm. 

Eggsy shook his head stomach churning sickeningly. "You know, when I said to Harry that maybe he'd stuffed me dad like Mr. Pickles, I really didn't mean it."

His bubbling laugh sounded all kinds of wrong in the heavy silence.

"And I told you not to be ridiculous, Eggsy."

If Roxy hadn't been there to keep him on his feet, he'd have hit the floor like marionette when its strings were cut.

"Now this is a right mess," Merlin whined taking off his glasses so he could massage his forehead and temples easier.

Roxy led Eggsy to the nearest office chair, practically forcing him to sit down, and then stayed by his side resting her hand on his shoulder comfortingly. His eyes hadn't left Harry since the moment he'd seen him but only now he realised he could actually see through the man.

"I did say that perhaps you should speak to him alone first." It was Harry's voice without question, and it was Harry's mouth that moved along with the words. But it just made everything harder to understand. The small, painful flicker of hope that perhaps, by some miracle, Harry hadn't truly died was swiftly shot down as Eggsy vividly remembered the the body he'd demanded to see. Merlin had tried to keep him from the room, but he'd just had to see it himself. There had been only half of Harry's face left.

Merlin huffed annoyed. "Yes, yes, but that doesn't help us now."

"Can someone please tell me what's going on?" Eggsy asked faintly, trying to push all the memories of cold corpse away to the back of his mind,

Roxy and Merlin glanced at each others and then at Harry. Eggsy vaguely marveled the fact that neither of them seemed to quite know what to say.

"I don't think I ever asked you, if you happen to believe in afterlife, Eggsy," Harry, or what at least looked and sounded very much like him, asked cocking his head slightly. "Or more specifically speaking, in ghosts?"

Eggsy frowned looking accusingly at Merlin. "The hell?"

Merlin looked almost tortured. "Harry, I don't think that's the best way to do this."

"Perhaps you are right." Harry, or the thing, approached Eggsy slowly. "I don't know how I should say this, my dear boy, so that it would sound even remotely rational, but I am dead in a sense that I don't have a corporal body anymore. From what I've gathered from other ghosts, it seems like for some reason my soul has stayed here despite the death of my body. Look closely," the man said as he tentatively placed his hand on Eggsy's knee. For a second he didn't feel anything weird, just a normal hand, but then it went inside him.

"Fuck!" Eggsy shouted panicking as he felt an alien, slightly cold sensation inside his flesh. He stood heart pounding s fast he feared it would damage his ribs.

"I don't think that was the way to do it either, Harry," Merlin sighed bemusedly.

***

"So, you are actually a fucking ghost?"

"Yes, as far as I can tell, I am. And I'm not the only one in this world."

Harry sat near Eggsy and looked at the boy smiling softly. It was so wonderful to see him again. Harry had missed this as much as the good natured bickering with Merlin. In fact, Harry had been surprised by the strength of the warm relief that had flouted through him when he saw Eggsy slamming the door open without any kind of manners.

They'd finally finished explaining all to Eggsy who had calmed down after hearing Merlin's reassurances and seeing Harry turn invisible and walk through a solid table.

"This is sick," Eggsy breathed shaking his head. "I still don't know if I should believe you. I feel like someone is gonna jump from the nearest rubbish bin with video camera."

"I know what you mean," Roxy murmured. She still had a hand on his shoulder patting him from time to time. Harry looked at their easy trust and companionship and then sternly commanded his ridiculous jealousy to back off. Not only was he twice as old as Eggsy, he was also dead.

"Now that the shock is over, perhaps we should move this conversation elsewhere?" Harry suggested. "Merlin tells me you have moved into my old house?"

Eggsy blinked several times, then nodded eagerly. "Yeah, we can go there. Mum and Daisy won't be back before six, so we got plenty of time."

"Excellent."

"I think I'll pass this time. I've been doing nothing for hours and if my phone's constant buzzing is anything to go by, Morgana won't wait much longer before he follows Eggsy's example and storms in uninvited."

"And I have to prepare for new mission," Roxy said after glancing at Eggsy. 

Both Merlin and Roxy were terrific liars, but Harry knew they were giving him and Eggsy an opportunity to talk alone. And if the look on Eggsy's face was anything to go by, he had figured it out as well.

"Shall we go then, Eggsy?"

"Yeah, lead on."

"Oh but I just remembered, Galahad, don't you have a report to give?" Merlin reminded slyly just before they had reached the door.

Eggsy groaned. "Can't you just tell them I'll hand it over tomorrow? Please?"

Harry had difficulties in suppressing his wide smile when he saw Eggsy's puppy eyes that were turned towards Merlin.

"Yes, alright, but I won't save ye from Morgana if ye don't give it to him tomorrow."

Eggsy visibly shuddered. "Don't worry, I won't forget."

"Well, go on then and leave me to work, you bloody troublemakers."

"Thanks, guv!" Eggsy shouted merrily as he, Harry and Roxy left Merlin's office. But they hadn't had the chance to take a single step before Merlin's head appeared to the doorway.

"Harry you idiot, you can't just walk here in visible form. How do you expect me to explain this to others? And for your information,, apparently ghosts do appear in the surveillance cameras too."

"Ah, yes, that could be a slightly problematic," Harry agreed looking then at Eggsy. "Is it okay, if I follow you in my invisible form?"

Eggsy looked unhappy but nodded. "If you don't appear right away when we are at the house, I'm gonna find a waterproof method to kill you for good this time."

"Don't worry, I promise you not to do anything so insensitive," Harry smiled and without any further warning let go of his concentration. From the looks of other's faces he knew they couldn't see him anymore.

"That's so creepy," Roxy said before hugging Eggsy briefly and murmuring something quietly to the boy. Harry didn't know what the girl had said, but Eggsy looked grateful and thanked her heading then out.

"It's all right, Eggsy," Harry leaned close to Eggsy's ear to whisper. To Eggsy's credit, he didn't scream - and the little jump he did was actually quite adorable.

"Bloody hell, don't do that!"

Harry just chuckled and followed the boy smiling. He felt good, almost giddy, which possibly should have worried him more than it did. Since he'd died, revenge on Valentine had been constantly on his mind. He'd been mildly obsessed to say at least. When he'd learned from Merlin that the bastard was long been dead it had been like half of his existence had disappeared. He hadn't known what his purpose was anymore. But now he felt at peace with himself, it was like he'd found his place in the world. And the more he mulled it over he came to the conclusion that more than Kingsman or even Merlin, it was Eggsy that grounded him. Which was all sorts of wrong and simply overly romantic considering he'd known the boy less than a full year.

Harry wasn't at all sure what to think about that. I couldn't be healthy to be so fixated to a one person.

It didn't take them too long until they were at Galahad's house. Harry looked around the hallway taking note of all the little changes Eggsy had made with his family and was surprised to see that almost everything was precisely like he'd left it. Speaking frankly he'd fully expected Eggsy to redecorate everything the way he himself had done when he'd moved in over twenty years ago. Although he did have much better taste than his predecessor even if he said so himself.

"Uhh..this feels bloody weird," Eggsy said as he kicked his shoes off - Harry had to glance down just to make sure Eggsy wasn't mistreating oxfords like that - after closing the front door.

"I know exactly what you mean. But this is now your home and for all intents and purposes I am...well, dead."

"Yeah, but..." Eggsy didn't seem to find words, so Harry stepped closer and placed his right hand to his shoulder making sure it was as solid as he was able to make it.

Eggsy sucked a breath staring at Harry's hand with wide wondering eyes.

"I thought you can't touch things anymore?"

"Then how did you think I got here in the first place?" Harry asked, amused. "I can make myself visible and kind of solid when I concentrate to it. That way I'm able to touch and feel - it's almost like having a body. Don't ask me about whys and hows, I don't have a clue. All the other ghosts I've met have been just as baffled as I."

"But that's- Harry that's brilliant!" Eggsy's eyes lighted up with pure delight and Harry found he couldn't look away. Not that he'd have wanted to look away.

Harry chuckled and followed Eggsy into the living room where they both seated in the big, comfortable sofa. In Harry's part he was doing it more for Eggsy's than his own benefit as he would still have to concentrate on not dropping to the floor in very ungentlemanly manner.

"Would I be right, if I assumed these are your sisters?" Harry asked pointing at the army of stuffed animals that had taken over the living room. He rather feared he'd accidentally sat on a lion.

"They are Daisy's. I might have gone a bit mad when I received my first paycheck. You don't wanna see her room, trust me."

Eggsy looked a bit embarrassed as he snatched some of the animals from the floor. Harry had to physically fight not to show how charmed he was by the boys actions. He'd forgot how easy it was just to be with Eggsy.

"I'm sure there isn't a better way to spend your money than spoiling your little sister."

"Well, that's not what me mum said." Eggsy grinned sheepishly, glancing almost shyly at Harry's direction.

They sat for a moment in silence, neither knowing really what would happen next. When it began to turn awkward Harry took a deep -  albeit useless - breath and decided to speak now when he still had his courage left.

"Eggsy, I must apologise for what I said before leaving for Kentucky. I had been so desperate to show Arthur that his methods were...outdated for years and wanted you to win so badly that I lost the control of my tongue. I should have never said those things to you, Eggsy."

When Eggsy didn't answer immediately, Harry feared he'd said something wrong. That despite Eggsy's apparent delight in seeing him the boy couldn't forgive his harsh words and was now trying to find the words to tell him just that. But then Eggsy turned to Harry his face was so full of raw emotions Harry didn't know what to make of them.

"I wish I could still hit you, you bloody twat. I wanted you to be proud of me, I wanted your approval so fucking much."

Harry blinked and looked quickly away. He hadn't been ready to hear the accusations and tears the boy could barely hold back. his chest began to ache like a phantom pain to mirror Eggsy's feelings.

"I watched you die, you know," Eggsy whispered. "Hacked your laptop and watched how it happened."

Harry was stunned. Clearly Merlin had forgotten to tell him this little detail.

"You shouldn't have seen that."

"What else was I supposed to do? You'd ordered me to wait here."

"Yes, but..." Now was Harry's turn to find him unable to find the words to express his inner thoughts."I am proud of you. More than I could ever say. Merlin told me how you three saved the world."

That made Eggsy smile again. "It was fucking fantastic! You should have seen Valentine's face."

"Surely that was a sight to be seen. Did you get a newspaper?"

"It's upstairs in your...well, my study."

**Chapter 4**

Having a ghost as an agent was better than anyone could have hoped for. Naturally only the four of them plus Morgana and the new Arthur knew about it as they had decided that it was hard enough to convince two more let alone the whole staff. Eggsy had heard from Roxy that Morgana had actually tried to punch Harry and afterwards he and Merlin had been engaged in a very heated conversation. Which had led to a bed, it would seem.

Harry had almost burst from smugness when he'd heard the news. "I've tried to get those two together for years but Merlin has always managed to avoid my matchmaking efforts."

Now, after two months Eggsy couldn't remember when was the last time he'd been alone on a mission. Somehow Harry always found a way to come with him and Eggsy wasn't going to say no to that. It was very handy to have an invisible partner in crime.  He'd just rather hoped that maybe they'd be a little more than just that, but nothing had happened. He was seriously starting to consider Roxy's suggestion that he should just wait naked in Harry's room and make the older man realise that no, it didn't in fact bother him as much as it perhaps should that he was in love with a ghost. And if Eggsy was absolutely honest with himself, it kind of turned him on little bit. Or well...more than a little.

For the most part, it felt like a life he'd pictured thousand times after he'd began his Kingsman training. He and Harry, side by side fighting the bad guys. And because Harry could go everywhere without being noticed, he was the most efficient spy you could imagine. Most of the time Harry delivered the information and Eggsy did the rest of it, so that Harry didn't have to use more of his strength then was absolutely necessary - they'd found out after the first few times that if he fought long hand in hand combats, he would exhaust himself and wouldn't be able to even turn visible in couple of days. 

Eggsy didn't understand it fully, but after not being able to hear or see Harry for two days he'd decided that they'd have to think more carefully their strategy. He would have panicked if Harry hadn't warned them it could happen.

***

"Eggsy, I really don't understand how this gets you so worked up. I mean, I can clearly see all the problems your relationship would likely cause, but as you don't seem to be overly concerned, it's not my place to tell you what to do."

Roxy was sitting cross legged on Eggsy's bed munching on onion cream crisps he'd found in the back of a kitchen cupboard. He'd asked Harry about it teasingly and had been delighted to learn they had been a guilty pleasure of the older agent. Afterwards Eggsy had developed on rather unhealthy addiction to them and judging by the speed Roxy was devouring the crisps, he wasn't the only one.

They were having a sleepover in Eggsy's place as first time what had felt like forever they both had couple of days free at the same time. Eggsy had shooed Harry away ordering him to go and bother Merlin - his next mission would start tomorrow morning anyway, so it was only practical that he'd spent the night in HQ. Eggsy and Roxy had come to an conclusion that Merlin truly lived there as neither of them had ever heard of him going home - Merlin probably used his house as a wardrobe for all his adorable jumpers.

"But if you are so sure that he really likes me, why hasn't he said anything? Not even a hinted about it?" Eggsy whined childishly hugging his favourite pillow.

"Why haven't you?"

"You know why!"

"As a matter of fact, I don't. Really, Eggsy, what's the worst that could happen?" Roxy sounded totally fed up with  their current topic. Rightly so, considering they'd had this exact conversation at least five times before. "Harry is already dead, so it's not like you'd give him a heart attack by confessing that you want very badly to have his babies."

"Rox!" Eggsy wasn't anything remotely like a saint, but he felt like a blushing virgin as a deep red kept creeping down to his neck.

"Alright," the girl laughed. " But seriously, do you realise how many people would kill to be in your position? You got a second chance. Even if you loved one happens to be a ghost."

"It's so weird how normal things like that seem now. I'm in love with a real ghost. Sounds like a cheap romcom."

Roxy looked thoughtful as she ate couple more crisps trying to avoid J.B. who had parked his arse in Roxy's lap as soon as he'd realised who wa in charge of the food supply."Eggsy, if it was anyone else I'd lecture how bad this relationship would be and try to stop you from even considering it. But I saw how stupidly you fanboyed over him when we were training and how both, you and Harry, were utterly besotted back then. Like you both knew it would happen eventually, but there wasn't any rush so you just danced around each others and made us poor bystanders to vomit from sugar overdose. And I saw how broken you were after the V-Day, even if you tried to hide it."

Eggsy stared at his hands, not daring to meet her eyes. He didn't want to remember that time ever again.

Roxy throw a pillow at him and smiled little more tenderly than usually. "So, you just have to make it impossible for him to say no. Come on, Eggsy, you are pro at seducing!"

"True, but I've never had my heart at stake before."

"Well, I'd say take your time as he seems to be pretty much immortal and you are still young, but I really can't stand to watch your ridiculous pining any longer."

"Ha, I knew you were just trying to get me stop complaining about him!"

"Eggsy, I don't even remember the last time we spoke about something else," Roxy said solemnly.

"Okay, okay, maybe I should do something about it."

"And perhaps you should think about what you are going to tell your mun? I mean, you can't just introduce your new, over a twenty years older and more than a little bit dead boyfriend to your mum without giving her at least some warning."

"Ugh, don't even mention that. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. And besides, I see no harm in letting her think I'm shagging you - did I tell you she bought strawberry flavoured condoms for us yesterday? She told me that you'd mentioned loving strawberries to Daisy last week. And then she winked."

Now it was Roxy's turn to hide her head to the  pillow.

*** 

Two weeks later Eggsy found himself left with no other options than to explain things to his mum. She'd happened to wake up at night and naturally after hearing talk and laughter at Harry's - well, Eggsy's study - she'd went to investigate only to find her son with a vaguely familiar looking stranger in the middle of a heated argument about best ways to blow up a car.

To Eggsy's utterly surprise it wasn't the ghost par that really bothered his mother, but the fact that he'd been lying to her about his new job and what had really happened on V-Day.

That night had been long and full of both angry and hysteric tears. When things had got really personal, Harry had tried to suggest that maybe it would be better for him to leave the mother and son alone, but that had only made Michelle to start interrogating him instead of Eggsy. She wanted to know every single little detail the man could possible tell.

Which meant that of course Harry had to let it slip that he was the reason both Eggsy's dad and Eggsy himself had joined the Kingsman. Needless to say none of them had slept much that night. And neither had Daisy, because Michelle's furious screaming had woken her up no less than three separate times.

The whole thing had ended in Michelle deciding it had been far too long since her sister had seen Daisy. She'd left the next morning with  a very grumpy baby and a promise to call when she'd calmed down enough to think everything through.

"This is your perfect opportunity!" Roxy almost shouted when Eggsy called her to tell what had happened the night before. "I know you don't get your next mission until Thursday and Harry just got back yesterday, so should have plenty of time to work things out. Good luck and tell me everything afterwards!" She hanged up before Eggsy would start moaning about what ifs.

"Bloody traitor!" Eggsy knew he sounded like a petulant child but told himself that he really couldn't care a less right now. He was finally going to stop being a coward and tell Harry they really didn't need to wait until he too was dead before they acted on their feelings. Assuming of course that Harry did in fact have feelings for him , but after watching the older man like a hawk and listening Roxy's prep talks he was fairly sure he wasn't the only one who wanted something more than a friendship.

Eggsy was so jumpy the rest of the day that even J.B. opted to keep out of his way. Harry had said he would be back by five when he'd left last night after the fiasco with Michelle. As Eggsy couldn't concentrate on anything demanding, he ended up cleaning the whole house. It's not like he planned on doing so, but after finishing in bathroom he'd decided that the living room really needed a good vacuuming. And then he'd absolutely just had to change his bedclothes...just in case. And the next thing he knew he had been  arranging Daisy's new toys.

Of course he'd ended up spending more time in that than he'd planned, so he'd almost burned himself trying to be as fast as he could in shower (cleaning himself...well, very thoroughly, again just in case)  and then spent the last fifteen minutes on pondering what he should wear. When the clock pointed exactly at five Eggsy sat on the sofa trying to resist the urge to peek behind the curtains.

So naturally Harry was ten minutes late. Eggsy tried, really tried not just slam the door shut on his face. Partially because he knew he was acting stupidly and well...Harry could just walk inside regardless of whether the door was open or shut.

"Hey, 'arry," he said beckoning the older man enter.

"Good evening, Eggsy. I hope things have calmed a bit?" Harry asked carefully.

"Yeah, mum took Daisy to see our aunt for a bit."

When Eggsy noticed that Harry hadn't followed him to the living room, he turned back raising his eyebrows. "Something the matter?"

Harry stood frozen in the doorway. "Eggsy, if my presence causes so much distress to your mother that she has to leave, I don't think I should be here."

"Don't be an idiot, Harry. She'll get over it. I ain't driving you away from your house."

"Eggsy, this isn't my house anymore."

Eggsy really didn't like Harry's grave tone. "Yes it bloody well is! Yeah okay, maybe you don't need it as you did before, but there will be always place for you here, Harry."

Harry seemed to fight some sort of inner battle for a moment but relaxed then and sighing he came to sit to the sofa. "I think we need to talk, Eggsy."

Eggsy sat next to him, maybe a bit closer than was strictly speaking necessary, but he would not back down now. "I think you are right, Harry."

Eggsy's serious tone seemed to throw Harry away for a bit and when he spoke he didn't sound so sure of his words anymore. "You don't seem to really realise, that I'm actually dead. The only reason I'm still here is because my soul couldn't let go of this world. I don't know if it will be for eternity or if I vanish tomorrow without a warning. There isn't really point in my existence as I can't control whether I live or die."

For a moment Harry fell silent, and Eggsy barely dared to breath fearing his impossibly fast pounding heart would seize the opportunity and leap out of his throat. When Harry continued his voice was full of wistful longing, the eyes staring steadily at Eggsy so unbearable warm that he was certain he would burst any moment now.

"I don't deny hoping for something more from you than just your friendship, and had I lived...well, nothing good ever comes from dwelling too much in the past. You are so young, Eggsy-"

"Nope, stop right there," Eggsy ordered. He'd heard all he needed and now a wide, almost euphoric feeling took over him. "You think you're getting away just like that, huh? I ain't throwing away a second chance to be with you now that I finally know you feel the same."

"Didn't you listen-"

"Yeah, and so what? You are a ghost and I'm over twenty years younger than you. Guess what - I couldn't care less." Eggsy's voice was sure and he had an intense look in his eyes. "You don't know if it won’t work without trying first. And if you do disappear in the morning without even a goodbye kiss, I'll still rather have the memory of you then wonder for the rest of my life what could have been. So shut up and kiss me."

And Harry did just that, eyes wide from wonder and overflowing love. 

 

**Epilogue**

When the day came that Eggsy wasn't fast enough to dodge a deadly bullet, Harry didn't have time to panic. They'd talked about it many times as Eggsy began to truly get older laying in their bed at the dead of night. Eggsy had always been so sure that when his time came, he and Harry would leave together, as they had figured out that it was Harry's love for Eggsy that had kept him from moving on after Valentine, the true cause of his lingering in the world of the living, had died. They'd met two other human-ghost couples not too different from them, and they had strengthened Eggsy's believe in his theory. 

So when Eggsy lay in the hard ground coughing up blood as his lungs collapsed rapidly, he squeezed Harry's hand and stared without blinking at his eyes. Between the wet couches Harry could hear Eggsy's whispered words: "Wait for me."

And as he saw the last light vanish from the pale eyes, he could feel himself starting to fade into nothingness too.

**Author's Note:**

> So, all kinds of comments, critique and kudos are welcome and much appreciated - this is my first time writing a fic in English, so if there's still some oddities etc please let me know.


End file.
